


ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore?

by MakeBreakfastNotWar



Series: 30 Day Writing Challenge [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Comfort, M/M, References to Addiction, Sickfic, references to past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 06:58:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17320166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakeBreakfastNotWar/pseuds/MakeBreakfastNotWar
Summary: Aaron gets a cold and tries to hide from the world, but Kevin happens to be home and ends up taking care of him





	ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore?

**Author's Note:**

> For day 4 of my 30 day writing challenge, the prompt was cold! Check out all the days that don't make it onto ao3 [here](https://www.pillowfort.io/MakeBreakfastNotWar/tagged/30%20day%20writing%20challenge).

Aaron’s head was pounding as he walked out of the locker room. He had managed to not draw any attention to himself on the ride over to the court, but the change in temperature going from the warm car to the cold outside air and then into the warm building set his nose running. He barely resisted the urge to sniffle, instead wiping his nose on the front of his shirt when no one was looking. 

 

He just had to make it through this practice, and then he could hide in his room for the weekend. His mom had always hated when Aaron got sick, which happened fairly often when he was growing up because they lived in a drafty apartment and Aaron didn’t always get balanced meals with all the vitamins he probably needed. Tilda despised the sound of sniffling, and wouldn’t tolerate complaints, so Aaron got good at making himself scarce when he was under the weather. 

 

Something tickled at the back of his mind as his thoughts wandered. Oh, right. He couldn’t hide from the world in his room anymore, he had three roommates now. Well, he’d figure something out.

 

Aaron was pulled out of his head as Nicky snapped his fingers in front of his face. “Hello, Earth to Aaron?”

 

Aaron blinked. “What?”

 

“I said,” Nicky started impatiently, “Columbia tonight. You down?”

 

“Oh, I can’t,” Aaron said, pushing through the fog in his brain to come up with an excuse. “I have a chemistry assignment due on Monday. I think it might take a while.”

 

Perfect. That was totally believable. Now the others would be gone for the weekend and Aaron could have some peace and quiet. 

 

“Actually,” Kevin said, “I might stay back too.” Aaron whipped around to look at him, incredulous. It must have shown on his face because Kevin continued somewhat defensively, “I want to get in some more practice.”

 

Now they were in dangerous territory. Would Andrew bother driving all the way to Columbia and dragging Neil along when Nicky was the only one who really wanted to go out? Aaron could practically see his twin weighing the pros and cons when Renee spoke up from across the room. 

 

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she said, “but it sounds like you have some empty seats in your car now. Could Allison and I tag along? We had a lot of fun last time.”

 

Aaron could have hugged her. Nicky and Neil both desperately wanted the twins to bond more with the upperclassmen, and having Renee along would mean Andrew wouldn’t have to rush back to campus for his sparring session with her on Sunday. Sure enough, Andrew glanced at Neil and Nicky and relented with a “Fine.”

 

He still had Kevin to deal with, but with no one to force him to take a break, the striker would probably practically sleep on the court. 

 

With that settled, the rest of the practice went by in a bit of a blur. Aaron knew he was moving a bit more sluggishly than usual, but he managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other and he didn’t think anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary. 

 

He made himself go through the motions of taking off his gear, showering, and changing back into his regular clothes. He tried not to linger too long under the hot water even though he was freezing. He could take another hot shower in a couple hours once the others had left. 

 

Aaron asked Andrew to drop him off at the library, under the guise of working on his fictional chemistry assignment. Inside he beelined for one of the couches at the back. He lay down, set a silent alarm on his phone, and slept for an hour. When his alarm went off it had started to grow dark outside, so Aaron trudged back to Fox Tower through the chilly November air. He was shivering by the time he got back, but at least he could use the long walk to excuse his red cheeks and nose. 

 

On the third floor Allison and Renee were standing in the hall, apparently waiting for the others to be ready. Aaron let himself into his room and found Nicky just coming out of the bathroom, eyes lined with kohl and hair gelled. Across the room Kevin was sitting at his desk, laptop open in front of him. Andrew was nowhere to be seen.

 

“They’re waiting for you in the hall,” Aaron told his cousin. 

 

“Shit, Andrew got Neil that quickly?” Nicky asked. “I thought I had a few more minutes.”

 

“No, it’s just the girls out there so I guess Andrew is still in Neil’s room,” Aaron said. 

 

“Well, I’m pretty much ready anyway,” Nicky said, grabbing his coat. “Have fun this weekend, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” He winked, prompting an eye roll from Aaron, and headed out the door. 

 

With almost everyone gone, Aaron decided to treat himself to a long, hot shower. He locked himself in the bathroom and turned the shower on as hot as it would go, stepping in when it felt like it could melt his skin off. For the first time all day, he felt warm again. He didn’t know how long he stood under the spray but eventually the water started to cool down and he shut it off before it could make him cold again. 

 

The bathroom had filled up with steam during his shower, and Aaron was dreading opening the door and letting in the cold air from the rest of the apartment. Maybe he could just stay in here for a few more minutes, just to savour the warmth a bit longer. He lowered himself to the ground, sitting against the tub wrapped up in a towel. Just a few minutes… 

 

*

 

Kevin’s stomach growled. He glanced at the clock and wasn’t entirely surprised to find that it was already 7:30p.m. He got up and stretched, heading over to the bedroom to see if Aaron wanted to order food. Only Aaron wasn’t in the bedroom. The bathroom door was closed, but that couldn’t be right. Aaron had gone for a shower, but the water had shut off over an hour ago. Surely he wasn’t still in there. 

 

Kevin knocked on the door. “Aaron?” he called. 

 

No response. He tried the handle and it was locked. He knocked a bit louder, but there was still no answer. 

 

When Aaron still hadn’t made a sound after five minutes of knocking, Kevin knew he had to get in there. He found a kitchen knife that he could fit into the heads of the screws holding the doorknob on, and it only took a few minutes working at it to get the knob off. 

 

The door swung open to reveal Aaron, wrapped in a towel and curled up against the bathtub, apparently asleep. 

 

“Aaron, what the fuck.”

 

Aaron shifted a bit. Kevin crossed the room and nudged his shoulder. “Wake up, man. Why are you sleeping in here?”

 

Aaron blinked and finally seemed to register Kevin’s presence. He glared up and Kevin, but in combination with his red nose, the effect was more adorable than menacing. “Go away,” he said, voice low and thick.

 

“You’re sick,” Kevin realized. “You should be in bed, come on.” 

 

“I’m fine,” Aaron insisted, “leave me alone.”

 

“You’ve been sleeping on the floor in here for an hour and a half,” Kevin said. “You’re not fine. Get up.”

 

Kevin backed up to give Aaron some space. He stood up slowly, but his hands fumbled on the towel and it slipped down. Kevin averted his eyes, stooping to pick the towel back up for Aaron and holding it out without looking. Aaron snatched the towel and Kevin waited until he said “Kev.” He glanced up, Aaron now had the towel wrapped securely around him again and was looking at Kevin impatiently. “You’re in my way.”

 

“Oh,” Kevin said lamely, “right.” He stepped out of the bathroom and let Aaron walk past him into the bedroom. 

 

Kevin waited a few minutes for Aaron to get dressed and then knocked on the bedroom door. “I was going to order food,” he said. “Do you want some soup?”

 

There was a grunt from behind the door that could have meant anything. Kevin opened the door slowly, giving Aaron lots of time to warn him not to come in. He didn’t, though, and Kevin found him digging through his drawers. 

 

“What are you looking for?” Kevin asked. 

 

“My sweater,” Aaron said, “it’s freezing in here.” 

 

Kevin opened his own drawer and pulled out the warm sweater Abby had given him for his birthday earlier that year. He offered it to Aaron and, with only a slight hesitation, Aaron took it and pulled it on. 

 

“Why don’t you lie down,” Kevin suggested. It didn’t seem like Aaron actually knew how to take care of himself when he was sick beyond falling asleep places. “I was going to order food, I’ll get you some soup. Maybe I can ask Matt or Dan if they have any cold medicine.”

 

“You’re being ridiculous,” Aaron grumbled, even as he fell into his bed. “I don’t need fucking soup or medicine, I just need to sleep and ignore this until it goes away.” 

 

“It’s not going to just go away on its own, at least not any time soon,” Kevin said. “You were practically useless on the court today. Just accept some help, it’ll be better for us all.”

 

“Whatever,” Aaron said, voice muffled by the blanket pulled up to his nose. “Do what you want, I’m going back to sleep for a bit.”

 

*

 

Aaron woke up to Kevin shaking his shoulder once again. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds longer, appreciating the warm weight of human contact. Eventually though he made himself blink his eyes open, and Kevin pulled away. 

 

“Food’s here,” he said. “Come out and eat something.”

 

Aaron followed Kevin into the living room, dragging the comforter from his bed with him. He made himself comfortable sitting vaguely upright in one of the beanbag chairs, and Kevin passed him a container of soup and a plastic spoon. 

 

Okay, Aaron was an adult. He could be mature enough to admit that Kevin was right; the soup was making him feel better. At least, he could admit that to himself. That didn’t mean he had to give Kevin the satisfaction.

 

Aaron finished his soup and put the container aside, settling further into the beanbag chair. Kevin had plugged his laptop into the TV to watch an Exy game on the bigger screen. Normally that would be enough to send Aaron from the room, but he was warm and comfortable and didn’t feel like moving. 

 

When Kevin glanced up and saw that Aaron had finished eating, he got up to throw out the containers. He came back with a glass of water and a couple pills in his hand, which he held out to Aaron. Aaron flinched involuntarily. It had been years since he took any drugs other than cracker dust. 

 

He shook his head to clear it. It was just cold medicine, Kevin wouldn’t put him in danger of relapsing. He snatched the pills from Kevin’s hand before he could dwell any more on it, swallowing them dry. Kevin left the water on the floor beside him anyway, retreating to his own beanbag chair. 

 

Aaron tried to focus on the Exy game for something to do, but concentrating on the screen for too long made his headache worse. As the cold medicine kicked in he found his eyes drifting shut, and he didn’t fight it. 

 

Some time later Aaron thought he dreamt that he was surrounded by warmth, and moving. After only a few seconds though he was set down, and the warmth started to drift away. He reached out blindly for the source of heat, his hand catching on something and tugging it closer. The warmth enveloped him again, and he fell back under. 

 

*

 

Kevin didn’t know what to do. Some irrational, fleeting thought of not wanting to wake Aaron up had compelled him to carry his friend to bed. But when he went to set Aaron down and get into his own bed, Aaron had latched onto Kevin and dragged him down. Now Aaron was wrapped around him and sleeping peacefully, and Kevin didn’t think he could get up without waking him. 

 

Probably worse than that though, was that Kevin didn’t  _ want _ to get up. 

 

He would just stay so that Aaron could get a good sleep, he told himself. Aaron had tensed up and made a desperate little noise when Kevin tried to set him down the first time, and now he was perfectly relaxed. Clearly, he was sleeping better with Kevin’s body heat there. Kevin was just doing a favour. And with any luck, Aaron would move in the night and Kevin would wake up early enough to sneak back to his own bed. 

 

That was the last thing he told himself before he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off.

 

*

 

Aaron woke up slowly, curling further into the warm presence in his arms. A few seconds too late, he registered that said presence was in fact a person, and that person was in fact Kevin. 

 

“What the fuck?” Aaron slurred. 

 

Kevin stiffened, apparently awake, but didn’t move. “You pulled me down in your sleep last night,” he explained. “I couldn’t move without waking you.” 

 

Aaron was too groggy to question why Kevin didn’t just wake him, or why he wasn’t moving now. He was still pretty tired despite the copious amounts of sleep he had had the day and night before. So instead of acknowledging the situation in any way, he said, “Go back to sleep,” and put his head back down, eyes closed. 

 

*

 

They didn’t talk about it that day, when they woke up again and Kevin slipped out of the room to shower. 

 

*

 

They didn’t talk about it that night, when Aaron snagged Kevin’s wrist with a mumbled, “It’s warmer,” pulling him down again. 

 

*

 

They  _ definitely _ didn’t talk about it on Monday, when Aaron was mostly feeling better, and Kevin had to skip Exy practice because he had a cold. 

 

But Aaron picked up a container of soup at the cafeteria after practice before he went home, and Kevin actually smiled when he walked in the door. 


End file.
